


The Lives We Lead

by Revil



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Action, Adventure, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-24 07:25:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18162836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revil/pseuds/Revil
Summary: There are many ways to tell a story but only so many words to convey it. In an infinite universe anything is possible, many stories can be told, but sometimes it's hard to find the connection.





	1. Rampage

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written and posted on ff.net back in September of 2016, I decided that re-writing it was a perfect excuse to start re-posting it on another website for more exposure. Maybe some fresh pairs of eyes will help me realize I'd do better just torching the damn thing rather than starting over.
> 
> Will post regularly.

"I swear, if she keeps this up, she'll need more than St. O's to get her back in line."

The Queen stood at the window of her chambers, looking out at the horrors that laid before her. She lamented on history. Mewni was a strong dimension, one with plenty of patriotic citizens willing to fight and die for their King and Queen. They'd overturned entire civilizations for the land their kingdom stands on today. Even as their military expanded ever upwards in technology and raw strength, nothing could have defended their capitol city from the horror that was ravaging their streets. The Queen, however, knew exactly what was going on and had even come to expect it. Star got into the warnicorns again.

"River? Do you know who left the stables unlocked?"

A voice from the adjoining room offered its denial. The Queen let out a long, drawn out sigh and headed for the door of her chambers. By the time she made it down to the cobblestone path leading to the castle's entrance, there was already a mob forming outside the gates. An indiscernible ravel reached the Queen's ears as she made her way to the mob.

"WE WANT HER OUT OF THIS CITY"

"SCREW THE LINEAGE, GIVE US OUR LIVES BACK"

"ALL MY WINDOWS ARE SMASHED"

"MY CABBAGES"

The Queen raised her hands not to silence, unfortunately, but to at least diminish the sound a bit. A few castle guards stood by her side to make sure no one tried to reach through the bars or climb over the top.

"People, please! We are doing the best to keep her under control. Please, just give it some time!"

A few villagers expressed their distaste with a multitude of curses. "How much time is it supposed to take!? At least keep her in the damn castle!"

"We're trying, but she's still a child. We're doing our best to keep out eyes on her but she'll do anything to get out here. Let me bring her back to the castle and we'll-"

"What? Keep an eye on her again?" The people weren't going to let her out that easy. "Every time you just bring her back, she just gets out again! We want results!"

"And I'll find a way to produce them, but I can't do anything arguing with you all."

"And what about the damages?" The crowd seemed to share this sentiment. "Are you gonna do anything about all the destroyed homes and shops!?"

"Yes! We're trying to find a way to fix this but it's hard to spend money you don't have! We'll figure something out, I promise! We'll have it dealt with tonight, you have my word as Queen."

With a murmured agreement form a majority of the townsfolk the gate opened. The Queen, now on a direct course for the destruction that had made its way to the village square, hustled down the path with mob and guards in tow. Soon, the area in question began coming into view: the extravagantly beautiful public square that's marked border between the residential and the business districts. A large stone square laid underfoot, dotted with trees and with one of the most spectacular fountains a royal city could ask for. The statue was the home of a rather lovely statue of one of the more influential queens of years past, Queen Nova, and was currently smashed in several places and spilling water between the feet of the masses.

The Queen clicked her tongue at the sight of this and scowled. Repairs on this alone would take a huge chunk out of the city's reserves which, as she so delicately explained to her people not moments before, was money they didn't really have. She still had no idea how such a small child managed to ruin such a beautiful square. Surrounding buildings had chunks missing. Entire chunks! There were scorch marks all over the place! What were they even from? 

As she contemplated the causes of the child's destruction, she noticed the little devil herself, mounted on one of the largest warnicorns the castle had and currently bounding back into the square from one of the side alleys. The Queen's face turned a shade of red not many of the towns folk there had ever seen before.

"STAR BUTTERFLY! DISMOUNT AT ONCE!"

Not having seen her mother yet, Star reared the horse to a scraping halt at the sound of her. She looked back with the show of fear plastered on her face and jumped off the horse, which padded the ground with its hoof.

"Star Butterfly, what on Mewni do you think you're doing? I leave you alone for 20 minutes to study and here you are, destroying the city as if we had coin growing from the trees! I swear, it's as if you don't even care!"

"But mom! Studying's boring! You can't expect me to-"

"I can and I do expect you to sit quietly for as long as I deem necessary for you! Look around you. Is this really the kind of pain you want to put your future subjects through?"

Star looked around her and let her eyes settle on all the people gathered around moon, the general noise emanating from them felt like white noise to her. She could feel weight of her actions start to weigh down her chest. Her eyes began to well up a bit, but she didn't shed any tears. The Queen sighed again and her tone dialed down to a more apologetic kind.

"Star, listen. I know you're still a child and messing around is what you do, even I did it when I was your age, but you have to calm down. You're part of the royal family and that means there's genuine, long lasting consequences to your actions here. I mean, for heaven's sake, Star, you're already 14. You're a real princess now. You need to learn to control yourself and I don't think you're going to get that kind of education here."

The crowd began growing louder. They didn't want this emotional talk, they wanted her to be chastised and punished! They started to cry out in protest but were inevitably shot down by a stern look from their queen.

"Now come on, we'll head back to the castle and discuss what's going to happen to you there."

The Queen took Star by the wrist and led her away from the square, using her wand to transport the warnicorn back to the stables. The guards that accompanied Moon had to physically part the considerably peeved crowd but a path was eventually opened for the two.  
________________________________________  
"She did what!?"

The King brought the tips of his fingers to the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"First the Molonach Bridge and now the town square, not to mention all the private property. That'll take at least 2 years to work off the expenses!"

"River, I know this is a matter of absolute importance but let's just settle on Star's situation for a minute. If we don't do something she's never going to stop."

The Queen sat in their bedroom while the King paced back and forth on the floor. With the subject changed to Star's new accommodations, they both seemed to have the same conclusion in mind, though it was Moon who made it verbal.

"I really do think Earth is the best place for her to go. They'll make sure she stays in line, you know how they are over there. And maybe she'll learn to respect the life she had back here, learn that not everyone has the freedom she takes for granted."

"No, I believe you're right. We can stick her in one of those education facilities they have there. Should keep her busy."

"They're called schools, dear, and I don't think they teach regal etiquette."

"So we'll send Glossaryck along. Give her the wand early, she's almost 15 anyway. Glossaryck can teach her magic and how to be a princess."

"I don't know, they're not very keen on magic on Earth."

"Glossaryck knows how to deal with that. Everything will be fine. It's like killing two birds with one stone."

"Yes, you're right. He's good at what he does. I trust him."

"So, who's gonna break the news to Star?"

"I've done enough with her for one day. This one's yours."

River grumbled in defiance as he trudged out of the room. It wasn't a long walk to his daughter's room, just down the hall really, but it didn't make his thoughts any easier to sort through. He was never very good at this side of the parenting game. He was always either the king or the fun dad. It always hurt him so much to see even an ounce of pain in his daughter's eyes. But it had to be done and he knew it.

Star sat in her own room, thinking over what was about to happen to her. She'd really done it this time, her mom's yelled at her before but this... something about the softer tone in her mother's voice is what really got her thinking. She couldn't get the education she needed here? She knew for sure what that meant. Her mother had tossed around the idea of sending her to St. Olga's Reform School before but she always thought that was just a way to get her to eat her dinner. She wasn't really considering it, though, was she? Of course, she was, where else was Star supposed to go? Star was so deep in thought she didn't even notice when the door creaked open, not until her father had actually sat down next to her.

"Star? Can we talk?"

"Sure dad."

She slid to her side a bit, making room for her father.

"I know you're probably fearing for your life on where me and your mother might send you," he let out a light chuckle, trying desperately to make the situation a little less heavily, "but really, there's no need to worry. We're gonna send you to live with some old friend of ours."

Star shot up when she heard that. "You mean... you mean I'm not going to St. Olga's?"

Her father smiled to see her so hopeful. "No, Star, we're sending you to Earth instead. You're going to be living with our friends, the Diaz's. Your mother and I have been there plenty of times, and I promise it's perfectly safe. We're sending Glossaryck with you to help with your education. Maybe you'll make some friends there."

"But this is still a punishment, isn't it?" Her eyes turned downwards as the small realization dawned on her.

"Yes, it is. But I'm sure you'll figure out how to have fun. You always do. Now get some sleep, you leave in the morning."

He kissed his daughter's head and left the room. Star rolled over onto her side.

"Wait, the morning?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually rewrote this chapter back over the summer but accidentally deleted it and trudged through an 8 month writing slump before finally deciding to get back to work.


	2. Moving In

The Butterfly family stood outside in the courtyard of the castle. It’d been a long night for Star giving her plenty of time to think over her new situation. She decided to try and keep a more positive outlook on her punishment, as per usual for the princess. She stood next to her massive crate of luggage, all being piled up on the ground by various servants.

"Now remember, Star, this isn't to just be used willy-nilly. This is a defense precaution. I know we said Earth is safe and all but you can never be too careful."

The Queen held Star's new little trinket to her side. The very birthright of being a Butterfly was just out of Star’s reach. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on the one thing that really set the royalty apart from the rest of the kingdom: the magic wand. Moon’s own wand was being looked after back in the castle. She left its large, blue gemstone to be polished for her return. This new wand looked nothing like the queen’s wand. This one was nothing more than a tan stick, barely a foot in length.

"We'll keep in touch with the mirror in your trunk, please do answer if you can."

The king stepped up to Star as his wife finished. He was not a very tall man, in fact he was barely as tall as Star, but that only made the hug between them more comfortable.

"And don’t be afraid to call us if you need to. Or if you want to. Or even if you just need someone to talk to, I’ll be here. Or if you want to say hi to your ol’ dad. Please call us."

Star could hear a small sniffle come from the man. The queen had to pulled him away from the girl. She knelt down next to Star and looked her in the eyes.

“Please, try not to get into trouble like you do here. And make some friends, ok?”

“Mom, come on. How hard could it be? I’ll be the most popular girl around in no time.”

Here on Mewni, Star never had many acquaintances she could call her friend, except Princess Ponyhead. The only time she was ever really out of the castle was when she was running errands, fighting monsters, or doing the money-burning task of destroying the village with warnicorns she stole from the stables, as what happened the night before. Having the destructive personality that ailed her, many parents forbade their children from "hanging out" with Star. Other than Ponyhead, there was really only one other person she talked regularly. Though she didn’t really like thinking about him anymore, there was no denying he had a large part in her past. Maybe on Earth she could try again, make some new people to hang around. She had thought that maybe her lack of friends was the reason she was so impulsive and reckless, and she knew Ponyhead was no help in that department. She was probably worse than Star was, unfortunately. She needed someone else to talk to.

But for now, she’d worry about what it would be like just to live in this new place. The fact that she was actually about to leave Mewni for the better part of her life to grow and develop in a strange land she knew little to nothing about was scary yet somewhat exciting. 

Moon took out a large pair of scissors and seemed to stick them through the air itself. And she brought them down a legitimate rift in the fabric of reality tore open, allowing the servants to start moving Star’s things through it. While they did that the queen finally held the wand out to her daughter. Star reached out and grasped the hilt of the magical wavy stick and almost immediately it started to glow. The wand, along with her hand, was encapsulated entirely in a cloud of bright pastel-yellow light. When the light calmed down and everyone could see again, they all observed the now different shape of the wand. It was very pink, with a large round top piece placed on top of it. It was decorated with several hearts and stars. Rather childish, very feminine, extremely like Star.

The Queen grasped Star's hands and looked her in the eyes.

"Now remember, the bigger the spell, the more energy this thing will drain from you. Listen to Glossaryck, don’t do anything he wouldn’t do, and only use it in dire situations if you’re not training. We'll know if you don't."

"Pfffft, don't worry mom. I think I can handle it!"

The two rulers look at each other with that 'She definitely can't handle it' look. Star's face, on the other hand, was slowly losing its radiance as her eyes filled with a bit of sorrow.

"So, I guess this is goodbye?"

"Oh, Star..."

Moon grabbed Star and pulled her into a warm hug. Though she wasn't expecting it, Star returned the embrace with just as much emotion. Not wanting to be left out, River joined in as well. They didn’t let go for a good few minutes, all the while nothing was said between them.

As Star approached the portal, she gave one look back to the castle she had spent all her life in. This was it. She had no idea when she’d be back, this may be the last time she had this view for a long time.

"Goodbye, Mewni..."

She took a deep breath and composed herself. All her stuff had been moved at this point. All that was left was her. It took more willpower to get her feet to move than she’d like to admit but once she was moving, she found she couldn’t stop until she was on the other side.  
________________________________________  
Marco laid on his bed on this warm Saturday morning. He had hoped to sleep in today, having had a tough first week back at school, but his parents weren't having any of that. There was a surprise visitor coming today and they didn't want him to give a bad impression. He wondered who could be so important that he needed to get out of bed and dressed before 9 on a Saturday? And one that would come on such short notice, too. Apparently, his parents didn’t even know they were coming until late last night either. Who even had that kind of authority? The Queen of England, maybe. 

As Marco lazily rolled out of his bed he continued to contemplate the meaning of his early awakening. With a quick glance at the clock he saw that a surprising sign of 8:53 was shown on the display. To make matters even worse the knock at his bed room door was only making him jolt up even faster.

"Marcoooo" Mr. Diaz called from behind the door, "You almost ready for our guest?"

"Uuuh yeah, dad! Just gimme another minute."

"Of course, son. Always good to look your best at times like these."

What did that even mean? His parents were weird. The sound of his dad’s feet padding away slid under the door and Marco sprang into high gear. Nice shirt, khaki pants, socks (dry, of course), and a nice hair combing took Marco a full 4 minutes. Record pace! With one final look in the mirror he turned to his signature red hoodie.

"Not today, old friend. Not today."

And with a last swift motion he opened the door and headed downstairs. The sound of laughter coming from the living room could be heard as Marco made his way into the living room. He couldn't see whoever it was since they were being covered by his parents, conveniently making his anticipation all the more unbearable. Despite not wanting to have to get out of bed at all he was still very curious as to who this "old family friend" could be.

Mr. Diaz saw his dashing son come down from the second floor and turned his body. Marco caught a flash of blonde hair.

"Ah, Marco! You're just in time! Our new roommate just arrived!"

Marco could hear the voice of a young girl behind his parents.

"Ooooh! Ooooh! Who's Marco!? I wanna meet Marco!"

The two adults parted sides and the slender image of a girl, easily his age, pushed forward towards him and pulled him into a hug.

"Yaaaaaay! New friend!"

Marco, clearly expressing his distaste in the matter, managed to pull his head away just far enough to catch a breath of air. As Star let go Marco stumbled back a bit, panting slightly. He looked to his parents.

"This is what you made me wake up on a Saturday for? Really?"

The mother piped up this time.

"Oh, we thought you wouldn't mind at all."

He gave them a very concerning look. “It’s a Saturday.” He spat this out with a bit too much conviction.

"And it’s a Saturday you’ll spend showing our lovely guest her new room. Go on."

Marco let out a sigh as his mother waved him off and went back to the stairs. He gave Star a bit of a stink eye as he passed her.

"Come on, your room's this way..."

The two made their way upstairs and out of earshot of the couple still at the door. Mr. and Mrs. Diaz brought their eyes away from the stairwell to talk.

"You know, when they said we owe them a favor this isn't quite what I had in mind."

"Oh shush, Raffi. You always wanted a daughter. And Star's upbeat and lively energy will do this house some good."

Back upstairs, Marco opened the door to the guest room and stepped inside to reveal all the lustrous wonders this room had to offer.

"This is your room. Try not to ruin it. Or do. Honestly, my parents won't care. I swear I think they purposefully make rooms dirty every now and then just to clean them."

Star walked into the room and looked around in awe. The walls were painted in a vibrant hue of beige and the low twin-size bed was covered in plain white sheets. She'd never seen a room like this before back on Mewni, everything she'd seen in the house had been so new and fascinating. Like the big, flat, black box that was hanging on the wall back in the living room. God knows what that could possibly be used for. Marco saw the awe-struck look in Star's eye and waved his hand in front of her face. It only lasted half a second more before she whipped her head around and flashed him a huge smile.

"I LOVE IT!"

"Oh, good. I mean, I know it isn't much but I'm sure you brought, I dunno, posters or something to liven it up."

"Posters? What's that, some kind of servant? My mom said I couldn't bring those along with me."

Marco's face had not changed the same half-bored half-annoyed expression since they left the living room.

"Ok, ignoring that and hoping it was a joke... you already know my name, I guess, but I never got yours."

"Oh, it's Star. Star Butterfly."

"Star Butterfly? What, are your parents hippies or something?"

"Dunno what hippies are but they're the king and queen of Mewni, so you better not be insulting them.”

Marco was a rather tolerant person, at least he thought he was, but that? No. That wasn’t something he felt like dealing with today. And with that Marco walked out of the room, really hoping this new nutjob wouldn't be staying that long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't really change too much from the original so far, and neither did I for the next few chapters. Really, though, y'all shoulda seen what it looked like originally. Really needed a good polishing now that I've gotten more experience. It's still not perfect, nor will it ever be, but what do you expect out of fanfiction? Dirty, ugly, disgusting fanfiction...
> 
> why do I do this to myself?


	3. Schoolgirl

Nights were probably the hardest for Marco now. What on Earth could she be doing this late into the night? It was one in the morning, for christ’s sake. What was all that noise? And why didn’t his parents hear it? He probably wouldn’t be so angry if it weren’t a school night. The last time he was up this late on a school night he was late for school and almost failed a test. Marco took his sleep very seriously, and not interrupting that sleep is something Star Butterfly had yet to learn how to do.  
Being the hyperactive princess she was, sleeping wasn't something Star could just ease into quietly. Her sleep routine consisted of numerous laps around her room accompanied by excessively loud giggles and a few bangs here and there. Sometimes she could hear her yelling something, every now and then it was accompanied by a groan. Marco's almost sure he heard the sound of a hammer at one point. Who knows what she was doing with a hammer.

By the time morning had risen Marco's eyes had darkened and gone bloodshot to the point where you'd think he was the living dead. The longer this girl stayed in the house the more Marco regretted not having been aborted. Once Marco felt satisfied that he had mentally complained about his current state of life to a substantial level he got out of bed. With a quick look at the clock he was ironically smiling to see that he’d only slept for a good 4 hours.

His sluggish movements as he went through the usual course of morning actions caused a bit of mishap in his dressing. Fly down, missing a right sock, and even his red hoodie on backwards. Or maybe he was missing his left sock and his right sock was on his left foot. He couldn’t tell, they don’t label the things. Either way, he left the room without even bothering to check himself in the mirror.

In the kitchen Star was happily chomping away on a plate of pancakes Mrs. Diaz had placed in front of her. Star looked up from her plate to see Marco sliding over to the table. It took her a good few seconds before she registered what state he was in.

"Hey, Marco! Your mom made these weird disk cakes-"

The smile on her face dropped somewhat to a bit of worry as the enormous bags under his eyes sagged. The mother, who was working at the sink full of dirty dishes and soapy water, turned her head to see what Star had paused about.

"Oh Marco, honey, what happened? Have a bad dream last night?"

"Sure." he grumbled as he slumped into a chair, "Something like that."

His mother slid a plate of pancakes to him and, instead of grabbing a fork and knife like a civilized human being, he simply decided that hands were unnecessary and slapped his face down into the food.

Star couldn't help but giggle at this.

Much like the night before, waiting for the bus was a bit of a nightmare. Star had been rather excited to go to this "school" thing that everyone kept talking about. That was, until she saw the giant yellow monster speeding down the oddly black path. Everything about this world seemed strange and silly to Star, even though this was apparently the closest studied dimension Mewni had to a sister, but she knew a monster when she saw one. 

As the bus approached the two standing on the sidewalk Star almost immediately grabbed the wand in her backpack, ready to defend herself and Marco from any danger this beast might try to bring upon them. Thankfully, the yelling that Star made was enough to snap Marco back to reality in time to tell her, in a rather stern way, that this wasn't a monster. She seemed to accept this somewhat easily.

Getting her on the bus was another problem, though.

"No! No, I'm not getting on the yellow death monster!"

She was holding on to either side of the entrance, trying desperately not to be encased in such a contraption.

"I already told you, Star, it's not a monster!"

He was shoving his shoulder into Star, doing his best to get the girl on the contraption. His cheeks were burning with embarrassment.

The bus driver shook his head lightly. "Foreigners..."

Marco probably would have fallen asleep on the bus if Star hadn't been so kind as to smash him with an endless barrage of questions to keep him up like a canary.

"How does this thing work? Is it magic? I was told there's no magic on Earth but I've already seen some magical things. What's school look like? Will I make more friends like you there? What do we do in school? Is it fun? Can I do magi-"

"Star, please. I'm trying to rest my eyes for 10 minutes."

"What? Why?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that someone kept me up all night with a freakin' hammer."

"Why would someone do that? That's just mean- oh wait, that was me." She giggled slyly.

"Yeah, it was. What were you even doing last night?”

“I was practicing my magic. Gotta learn to be an expert on it if I wanna take the throne someday.”

Marco groggily eyed her up before turning back to lean on the window. He let his eyes shut on their own, turning his brain off. Of course, it barely lasted a few seconds before Star interrupted him.

“Marcoooo. Maaarccoooooooo. Marco!”

Marco’s head whipped back around to look at her angrily. “What!? What do you want!?”

“What’s school like?” She seemed completely unfazed by his demeanor. 

“It’s where you go to learn, but you gotta be really quiet. In fact, lets practice that now.”

“Alright!”

Having finally gotten Star to sit still and stop talking, Marco took the opportunity to continue doing what he had planned to do this entire time. He leaned his head down on the window and shut his eyes. It was a short-lived victory, however, as in barely another minute he would be sitting down in his classroom.

"Alright, kids, sit down and shut up!"

Miss. Skullnick pushed the door open with her foot and threw her obscenely large body at the desk. Star gasped and went to reach for her wand. Again. This was the 12th time today alone. By now, Marco was ready for it and put his hand up towards her.

"Star, no..." his head was laying on the desk in front of him. "Not a monster... just the teacher..."

Star mumbled "I'm never gonna get to use my magic."

"Star, magic isn't real." is what Marco had attempted to say if his words hadn't come out in a jumbled mess.

The rest of class went down without a hitch. Star listened to the teacher and, as expected, was extremely confused by basically everything that was said. Especially when it came to history. While Marco napped at his desk Star was asking questions left and right. She had no idea who Napoleon was or where France is or any geography for that matter. She ended up pulling back and just listening after she started getting some looks from her fellow classmates and, at times, even her teacher. It was a shame, too, since she never got to ask about the clear absence of monsters. Definitely without a hitch.

Much of the rest of the dad went a lot like this as well, until lunch finally came around. Much to Star’s dismay she couldn’t find Marco at all as the class piled out of the door. He probably just got swept up in the commotion. In the lunchroom Star would find Marco sitting with two others. One of them looked like the nerdiest nerd to ever nerd out of Nerdville. And the other was, well... fat. That’s it, that was his defining quality. Marco, on the other hand, was completely out cold once again. Star took one of the empty seats, of which there were many at this table. 

"Marco's still sleeping, huh?"

The fat one looked up from his enormous tray of food to see a girl. A girl sitting at their table. The nerd had already gone completely brain dead.

"Yeah, he said his new roommate kept him up all night."

"Oh, yeah... that was, uh... that was me."

"Wooaaah, Marco's got a girl living with him? Lucky. Wait... you're that new kid everyone's been talking about. Your name's Star, right?"

"Yeah, that's me! I'm sure you've heard how awesome I am."

"Oh yeah! Never heard of anyone getting rejected by basically everyone in the school on their first day here. Honestly impressive."

"Oh, that's what you've heard..." She slunk into her chair, saddened by what she probably should have expected.

"Aw, it's ok though. You can hang out with the rest of us rejects. Alfonso here's really awkward around other people, I'm fat, and everyone calls Marco the Safe Kid. And we have another friend, Janna, but I think she might be skipping today."

"Why do they call him that?"

"Because he's socially awkward. I thought that was pretty straight forward, actually."

"No, I mean Marco. Why does everyone call him the 'Safe Kid'?"

"Oooooooh, that's because he gets overly paranoid about little things. He’s the kind of guy that’ll sit out of gym class because he doesn’t wanna get hurt. You know, classic nerd traits."

"So how long have you known each other?"

" I've known these guys since we were probably around 6 years old. But hey, you’re the new kid here, where did you move from? What’s your story?"

Star seemed to perk right back up after getting this opportunity. "Glad you asked. My name’s Star Butterfly and I'm from the dimension Mewni! I'm the magical, monster-fighting princess and heir to the throne!"

The fat one's eyes widened in awe as he listened to this, mouthing hanging open slightly.

"Woooooaaaah... a real magical princess..." His face contorted back to his usual widened grin. He managed to pull his body up and over the table to extend his hand out to the girl. "Hi, my name's Ferguson. Will you marry me?"

All Star could do was laugh and accept the handshake.  
________________________________________  
By the time Marco had finally “woken up” for the day sometime after lunch he came back to a world that had begun to treat him with a bit more focus than before. Suddenly a lot more eyes were on him than normal to the point where he felt as if he should have just stayed asleep for the rest of the day. Star somehow managed to bring him into everything she was going through simply by association. Word got around the school that the two of them were living together and suddenly he was just as weird as she was. 

The two got off the bus and Marco stormed off towards the house, Star with an apologetic look plaguing her face.

"Marco, come on, I said I was sorry. How was I supposed to know they'd do that to you in the locker room?"

He didn’t stop walking. “Because that’s how life works, Star. Were you homeschooled or something?”

“Um, actually, I never went to any school since I’m royalty and all. I don’t really know how any of this works. I thought maybe you’d be able to- “

“I don't care that you think you’re a princess, I don't care about your stupid magic, and I don't care that you're crazy! I care about the fact that in a single day of being here you managed to make my life more miserable than it’s been in years. I didn't sleep at all last night, pretty sure I just failed my science test, I've lost basically the last of whatever dignity I had at school, and now I'm even farther from ever even talking to Jackie!"

"Jackie? Who-"

"It doesn't matter!" Marco let out a deep sign and opened the door. "Please, for the rest of the night, I just want to be left alone."

And with that, he closed the door and stormed off towards his room. Star shyly walked in the door and looked around. No one else seemed to be home except them. His parents must still be working. Overcome with the fact that she had lost basically any chance she had of making friends with anyone at this point her feet seemed to move on their own to carry her to her room. Maybe she should give Ferguson a call, he seemed to like her.

She'd already managed to make the room as colorful as possible without even changing the wall colors. Her bed was made with some bright rainbow-colored sheets, the blinds had been swapped out for a light pink, and the mirror, hung by nails rather than magic, stood triumphantly just next to the bed. Star tossed her backpack to the side and sat down on the bed.

Marco was accustomed to the usual silence of the house when he came home from school. But now, knowing he wasn’t the only one home, it felt more chilling than relaxing. He tried to take his mind off things by doing some homework but how awful his day went just kept coming back to him. Worst of all, that really wasn’t even the biggest thing dogging him down. Sure, he had a bad day at school, but he’s had plenty of those in the past. He knows how little it really means in the long run. No, it was guilt he felt. He should probably go apologize to Star for overreacting.

But why should he have to apologize. He was justified in feeling that way, right? He’d told her time and time again throughout the day to calm down and act normally and yet she seemed reluctant to change. He wasn’t in the wrong. He’ll enjoy the silence, it’s what he’s been hoping for all day.

Dinner that night was a lot more somber than it should have been. Marco didn’t look up from his plate at all while he ate. He just wordlessly cleaned off the food, placed it in the sink, and headed back to his room all while the other three people at the table made small, idle conversation about god knows what. He tuned it out, he didn’t care enough to listen to any of it. 

He spent the rest of the night with his door closed. Someone had knocked on his door at some point but didn’t say anything so he knew who it was. He just ignored it and waited. There was no second knock.

He slept a lot better that night. No loud bangs from the other room, no yelling or screaming, and no hammer. He hoped this would be every night, hopefully what happened the night before was only a one-time thing. Looking back on it now, Marco wasn’t a huge fan of what it took to get to this point but it was probably just his lack of sleep which would still make it Star’s fault anyway, right? Whatever the case, he’d just have to think about it in the morning. Finally, time to enjoy the champagne of victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All's well that ends well. The ends tend to justify the means.


End file.
